Bring Back Belt Racers, You Cowards

My day would be 57 percent better with this in my life. Gif: Gone But Not Forgotten T.V. via YouTube

On the whole, kids toys now are pretty mush the same as they were when I was growing up. There are classics like Lego here to teach them the importance of creativity and dolls like Barbie can show you that you can become anything you want to be. But do you know what kids these days don’t have anymore? A belt for their pants that doubles as an awesome race track.

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This phenomenal sounding toy was brought to my attention while doom scrolling over my overnight oats this morning, and I need it in my life. The creation was called the Belt Racer and it was available in the U.S. back in the 1980s, of course.

It was a simple creation, with a belt that held up your pants and a buckle that housed a toy car. However, it was when you took the belt off that the toy’s true potential revealed itself, as the belt doubled up as a simple race track that your toy car could run along – imagine that!

Belt Racer Commercial 1982

In the buckle was housed a firing mechanism for the car, which ranged from generic racers to a recreation of the Dodge from ‘Dukes of Hazzard’ – how very ’80s.

Of course, because it’s an 80s toy there’s a ridiculous commercial to run alongside it, which sees two friends rushing to race their cars against one another, abandoning their bikes by the side of the road because toy belts are way more fun than bikes, right?

You can watch the clip above, does it bring memories of your own youth rushing back? Or does it instead make you wish you were a kid in the 80s so you could enjoy the Belt Racer and grow up with a slim chance of owning your own home one day?

If the Belt Racer is your cup of tea, you might also be interested in tracking down an old Micro Machines or one of these other excellent car toys from our youths.